Photographing an 8 Foot Quilt

I’ve been doing photographs for Pittsburgh quilt artist Patty Kennedy-Zafred for a few years. Her latest piece from her Native American series is a vertical 8 foot quilt. Initially I thought it might be a challenge to photograph but it turned out easier than I thought it would.

quilt pinned to black felt to photograph

When photographing a quilt, I line up a few of my Pro Panels covered with black felt to give the quilt a black border. Lighting is usually two strobes bounced into oversize 60 inch white umbrellas, which gives even lighting over the entire quilt. Because of the 8 foot height, I photographed the quilt sidewards but the lighting was with the same strobes and large umbrellas, just moved a little further away. It’s called the inverse square law but what’s important to know is that the further away the lighting is from the object, the more even the lighting is over the entire object. Moving the lights closer would have made the center of the quilt darker than the sides.

using a lint roller to remove excess threads

Because of the large size of the quilt, it made an interesting background when Patty used a lint roller to remove excess threads from the quilt. Something I might have missed had I not been looking through the camera as she walked into the set. Then turn around and smile for a great portrait.

portrait of an art quilt designer

the finished quilt photograph

You can see more of Patty Kennedy-Zafred’s art quilts on her new web site.